Personnel strategy for international cooperation

Japan Nuclear Human Resource Development Network published a report with the title of "a new direction of human resource development in response to the accident of Fukushima nuclear power plant" (東京電力福島原子力発電所事故を踏まえた原子力人材育成の方向性について）. At the section of "future direction" in this report, the following notices are found:

In order to contribute to the development of new safety criteria in international organizations governing nuclear safety in response to the accident in Fukushima, it is required to develop human resources who have communication skills as well as technical knowledge on nuclear safety.

The central government mentioned in a report with the title of "An additional report prepared by the Japanese government to internal nuclear agency - the accident of the nuclear power plant in Fukushima- ". At the section of "securing personnel in the field of nuclear safety" in this report, the following notices are found;

We will launch a study to establish "a training center in the field of nuclear safety for international cooperation and improvement of personnel quality".

The other section of "strengthen of regulatory organization for nuclear safety" mentioned as the followings:

We aim to establish "Nuclear Safety Agency" (tentative name). Will will secure high quality personnel ,regardless of public sectors or private sectors, in order to proceed properly with our missions.

The more I encountered such kind of voices from the governmental sides or private sectors, the more I am convinced that environmental consultants will play a pivotal role to provide stakeholders with proper solutions.

Before the 3.11, the nuclear safety is not managed under conventional environmental regulations like water pollution prevention acts or soil pollution prevention acts in Japan. Environmental quality standards for radioactive substances have not yet been established. On the other hand, a set of strict regulatory frameworks on the nuclear safety is developed for radiation controlled areas. Although some people including Dr. Sakata Shoichi had suggested that the regulatory framework should be expanded in order to regulate radiation contamination outside the radiation controlled areas, there is yet no rules in Japan to regulate nuclear safety outside the radiation controlled areas.

I think that it is time for environmental consultants to work with this big issue in collaboration with experts of nuclear safety.

Personnel strategy in Fukushima

Several measures, from the central governmental level to private organization levels, with respect to personnel issues have been already taken to manage the radioactive substance contaminated soil and the ongoing accident in Fukushima.

The central government has established "Fukushima decontamination work promotion team"（福島除染推進チーム" in Fukushima prefecture. One of the missions of this team is to promote decontamination works in collaboration with local governments. Though the details of this team are still unclear, the importance of personnel issues seems to be recognized in the central government in the work of decontamination.

Fukushima prefectural government has announced that it would establish "the personnel bank for decontamination work" (除染人材バンク) in the next January. According to a basic policy of the central government, local governments has responsibility to undertake decontamination work for the areas where radiation levels are less than 20 micro Sv/year and more than 1 micro Sv/year. Fukushima prefectural government has thus decided to establish the personnel bank, seeks technical experts to be registered in the bank, and conduct decontamination works with the help of knowledge of the bank.

There is other movement in a private field. Skilled Veteran Corps for Fukushima （福島原発行動隊） is not a governmental organization, but a source of skilled personnel. People who are over 60 years old, have technical skills and mission based minds are permitted to join  this corps. One of the missions of this corps is to provide advice with respect to decontamination works for governmental bodies and private companies and even send the registered personnel to decontamination works.